05-30-2025, 05:11 PM
If the discussion at the Omni Viking Lakes Hotel was the beginning of an effort that changes the NFL’s salary cap system during the next set of collective bargaining agreement negotiations in five years, it could have a profound effect on how the ownership group that hosted the meeting does business.
To parse through Goodell’s comments, team owners — while dealing with rising operations costs that eat into their profits — seem to be looking for ways to keep costs in line. It’s particularly interesting that the commissioner raised the integrity of the salary cap, given the fact the NFL has a "hard cap" that teams cannot exceed at any time. The social media truthers who insist the salary cap is a myth are technically incorrect; every dollar a NFL team spends on players eventually does hit the cap.
But for teams who are willing to spend cash above the cap, the salary cap is malleable. That’s where the Vikings have used the current system to their advantage.
The Vikings are spending $362 million in cash on their 2025 payroll; that’s $19 million more than any team in the league, according to Over the Cap. Their cash commitments are 25% higher than their salary cap figure, which is the third-highest rate in the NFL. It’s entirely legal under the NFL’s current system, and Vikings executive vice president of football operations Rob Brzezinski, the team’s longtime salary cap manager, told me in December the Wilfs’ approach to payroll gives the Vikings an edge over other teams.
"It’s a competitive advantage. There’s no question," Brzezinski said. "We take a lot of pride in our budget and the way we plan, so we’re not surprising them. But there are times when unique opportunities present themselves. If we think it’s a good decision and it gives us a chance to win, they always support it."
Because signing bonuses hit the cap in annual installments over the life of a contract, teams can use them to give big cash figures to players while still keeping the cap hits in check. Since 2021, when NFL teams were scrambling to keep rosters together under a salary cap that shrunk because of revenue losses from empty stadiums during the pandemic, clubs have made heavier use of void years to defer costs into future years, particularly as money from the NFL’s new TV deals has pushed the cap above pre-pandemic levels by $81 million per team. The Vikings rarely used void years before Covid; they’ve since incorporated them into contracts regularly, believing them to essentially be an interest-free loan given the league’s surging salary cap.
But the current system does create a spending disparity between teams in a league that prides itself on parity. The Vikings’ $362.8 million cash figure, for example, is more than $100 million larger than that of the Packers, Rams, Seahawks and Jets. Three of those teams are owned by three of the richest families in the NFL; the fourth is a publicly owned franchise that has built a national brand and has a season-ticket waiting list more than a generation long.
Nobody is going door-to-door in search of donations in the fabulously wealthy NFL; the Wilfs, whose net worth is estimated to be north of $1 billion, are never thought to be among the NFL’s richest owners. They certainly need not apologize for spending a larger share of their profits on their roster than some of their competitors might. But if some owners perceive the system as inequitable — or are bothered by having to spend more of their cash on players — it’s possible the next CBA will come with a tighter set of salary cap accounting rules.
To parse through Goodell’s comments, team owners — while dealing with rising operations costs that eat into their profits — seem to be looking for ways to keep costs in line. It’s particularly interesting that the commissioner raised the integrity of the salary cap, given the fact the NFL has a "hard cap" that teams cannot exceed at any time. The social media truthers who insist the salary cap is a myth are technically incorrect; every dollar a NFL team spends on players eventually does hit the cap.
But for teams who are willing to spend cash above the cap, the salary cap is malleable. That’s where the Vikings have used the current system to their advantage.
The Vikings are spending $362 million in cash on their 2025 payroll; that’s $19 million more than any team in the league, according to Over the Cap. Their cash commitments are 25% higher than their salary cap figure, which is the third-highest rate in the NFL. It’s entirely legal under the NFL’s current system, and Vikings executive vice president of football operations Rob Brzezinski, the team’s longtime salary cap manager, told me in December the Wilfs’ approach to payroll gives the Vikings an edge over other teams.
"It’s a competitive advantage. There’s no question," Brzezinski said. "We take a lot of pride in our budget and the way we plan, so we’re not surprising them. But there are times when unique opportunities present themselves. If we think it’s a good decision and it gives us a chance to win, they always support it."
Because signing bonuses hit the cap in annual installments over the life of a contract, teams can use them to give big cash figures to players while still keeping the cap hits in check. Since 2021, when NFL teams were scrambling to keep rosters together under a salary cap that shrunk because of revenue losses from empty stadiums during the pandemic, clubs have made heavier use of void years to defer costs into future years, particularly as money from the NFL’s new TV deals has pushed the cap above pre-pandemic levels by $81 million per team. The Vikings rarely used void years before Covid; they’ve since incorporated them into contracts regularly, believing them to essentially be an interest-free loan given the league’s surging salary cap.
But the current system does create a spending disparity between teams in a league that prides itself on parity. The Vikings’ $362.8 million cash figure, for example, is more than $100 million larger than that of the Packers, Rams, Seahawks and Jets. Three of those teams are owned by three of the richest families in the NFL; the fourth is a publicly owned franchise that has built a national brand and has a season-ticket waiting list more than a generation long.
Nobody is going door-to-door in search of donations in the fabulously wealthy NFL; the Wilfs, whose net worth is estimated to be north of $1 billion, are never thought to be among the NFL’s richest owners. They certainly need not apologize for spending a larger share of their profits on their roster than some of their competitors might. But if some owners perceive the system as inequitable — or are bothered by having to spend more of their cash on players — it’s possible the next CBA will come with a tighter set of salary cap accounting rules.
![[-]](https://vikefans.com/forums/images/duende_v3_local/collapse.png)
